


out of my system into words

by eudaemonia



Category: The Worst Witch (TV 2017)
Genre: Beaches, F/F, Just look at each other for crying out loud, Letters, Pre-Hackle, Stupid idiots who don't know they're in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-22
Updated: 2018-06-22
Packaged: 2019-05-26 04:23:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14992676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eudaemonia/pseuds/eudaemonia
Summary: hecate is just trying to make it through a week of staff bonding time when she accidentally comes across some old letters of ada’s, letters that could change everything.an entry for week 4 of the hackle summer trope challenge! (and an accidental late entry for week 3)





	out of my system into words

**Author's Note:**

> shoutout to cosmic-llin for organizing this whole challenge and choosing such compelling tropes! i started writing what i thought was a letters trope fic but it wanted to be a beach AND letters trope fic, and how could i say no? anyway, if anyone would like to scream at me about these two oblivious idiots on tumblr i'm there as ephemeral-winter come say hi

Hecate dropped her bag on the hard narrow bed under the eaves and loudly sighed for what must have been the five-hundredth time since leaving Cackle’s, which prompted Dimity, bouncing on the similarly hard and narrow bed across the room, to roll her eyes for what must have been the five-hundredth time since leaving Cackle’s, which made Hecate want to sigh again, but that would make it her five-hundredth-and-one sigh and _that_ would start the whole rigmarole over again, and honestly, Hecate wasn’t sure she had in it her to keep the exasperation thing going for the entire week. She was going to try, though; never let it be said that Hecate Hardbroom was a quitter.

Biting back that sigh, she glared at Dimity and her antics instead. “Miss Drill, this is not a playground!” she hissed. 

Dimity only grinned, damn her. “You don’t need a playground to have fun, HB,” she said. “The sea and the sand and your lovely face, of course, that’s all I need.”

“The sea and the sand are outdoors,” Hecate pointed out. 

“Two does outweigh one,” Dimity agreed, and lifted her hand to magick herself into a racerback swimsuit in a shocking shade of lime green. “Last one to the beach is a wicked witch!”

Hecate held in another sigh as Dimity transferred. She could hear the sounds of the others greeting her through the open window and knew she ought to go down and join them. That’s what this week was, right? Time for the Cackle’s staff to bond before the start of the fall term? She just didn’t see why it had to be at the seaside, in the hot sun, with all that itchy sand, and things like jellyfish and crabs in the water, just _longing_ to bite her, probably. Hecate really was not made for outdoor pursuits. Why couldn’t they have taken a staff trip to the Bibliothèque Nationale de Potions in Paris instead? That would’ve been fun. And productive. And nothing would bite her. Nevertheless, she was here, because Ada had asked, and generally, when Ada asked for something in that gentle pleading tone, Hecate obeyed.

She turned to unpack her bag, deciding that bonding could wait. She and Dimity had been assigned the small bedroom at the top of Ada’s family cottage and she figured now was as good a time as any to assert her rights to the limited closet space. Looking around at the bright wallpaper and the two beds, she guessed that Agatha and Ada had shared this room when they were children, and could see that Agatha must have felt just as out of place as she did in this room. The pink lamps and watercolor sketches bearing a distinct resemblance to some hanging in the staff room pointed to an interior decorating scheme headed up by Ada.

As Hecate shook out her dresses and straightened her shoes, she idly wondered which bed had been Ada’s and whether she had bounced on it with excitement on the first day of a holiday the way Dimity had. A young Ada, jumping around, with her plaits falling out—it was sweet to think about.

She wondered if there were pictures of Ada as a child somewhere in the house; she had only ever seen the school pictures in the halls at Cackle’s, and Ada never looked very happy about being stuffed into a uniform. Ada had been so enthusiastic about this staff retreat, Hecate knew this must have been her happy place in her youth. And anything that made Ada smile was a good thing. Ada looked pretty when she smiled. 

Hecate paused in her unpacking and reflected that that was a thought she had been having more and more as of late. It wasn’t like her at all to think much about the smiles of other women, but she put it down to her deepening friendship with the headmistress. It was natural to want your friends to smile. She had read that somewhere once; it sounded right. Reassured, she turned to put her books in the bedside table’s drawer.

The wood had expanded in the sea air and she had to tug harder than she expected to yank the drawer free, which sent her stumbling backwards and a whole lot of yellowing envelopes scattering about on the floor.

That was unexpected. From the way Ada had talked about her cottage, it had sounded like it was mostly rented out in the summer and that the family had moved all their personal belongings elsewhere a long time ago. Maybe these were left behind by a disrespectful tenant.

Hecate crouched to begin gathering them up and sucked in her breath when she noticed the letters were mainly addressed to Ada. She handled them more carefully then, which gave her time to notice the tiny hearts decorating the back flap and the faint whiff of Chanel perfume.  

Hecate Hardbroom was not a snooper, thank you very much, but closed drawers full of letters covered with hearts and perfume are meant to be investigated, okay? She carefully slid out the paper from one of the envelopes and stared at the words written in loopy schoolgirl cursive, of a type she saw every day in her marking. 

 

> _Chérie Ada,_
> 
> _Off to Italy to-day but I wanted to write you once more before we left Paris. There’s not enough witching history in this town, too many churches. Ed, you know, that boy I met on the train from Calais, took me to Notre Dame on Saturday. I’d think you’d like the rose windows. They look nothing like the flowers but they would look nice in your hair anyway. Do you still have the rose I gave you on the last night of school? I realized I forgot to charm it to keep, but you’re much better at the memento thing than I am. I keep looking for the perfect thing to bring back for you, but would you believe that in all the shops of the most romantic city in the world, nothing quite fits you? I’ll just have to come back here with you someday and you can pick something chic out for yourself._
> 
> _Avec tout mon amour,_
> 
> _Mona_

Chérie? Mon amour? Hecate wrinkled her brow. It seemed a little much, but that’s how good friends wrote to each other, right? Or maybe this Mona was just playing with the fact that she was writing from Paris. French wasn’t nearly as serious as English was, everyone knew that.

She picked up another letter, which was postmarked from Milan, and saw an Italian salutation, _tesoro_ , whatever that meant. At least Mona was consistent. It was the same kind of vapid chatter as the first. Hecate was not impressed; she would’ve thought Ada would’ve had more intelligent friends than that. Then she reached the end of the letter, which she had to read a few times before the meaning hit her.

 

> _…I grow fonder of Ed by the day—all these train rides do a lot for helping you to get to know a person, although I wish we could fly instead—but at nights my thoughts are only of you. Sometimes I wish I was coming back before August just to see you sooner. I love you._
> 
> _With mille baci,_
> 
> _Mona_

That sounded an awful lot like Mona and Ada had been… involved. Hecate blinked. Ada had never mentioned having a girlfriend before. It really wasn’t her place but Hecate couldn’t help but imagine Ada receiving a _mille baci_ from another woman. Her face would be tipped up, eyes closed, her soft hair thrown out behind her shoulder, her expression dreamy… 

Hecate stopped herself right there. What had gotten into her lately? Ada was her boss and her mentor and there was no reason at all to be thinking about her past romantic entanglements. She gathered up the rest of the letters and straightened them into a neat pile before slipping them back into the drawer. Her books could be stacked on the nightstand instead, she decided; best to leave closed drawers closed.

She spelled on her bathing costume and went out to join the others in the hated sun. To her surprise, Miss Bat was chattier and much more alert in the heat, and Hecate even enjoyed the game of water witchball against a coven spending the week at the neighboring cottage that Dimity insisted they all join. Ada seemed genuinely delighted to see the staff together, smiling especially in Hecate’s direction, and Hecate forgot all about a girl named Mona who might’ve once been Ada’s girlfriend.

It wasn’t until she returned to the tiny cottage bedroom to clean up before a late supper that she noticed she had missed putting away a bit of Ada and Mona’s correspondence. Hecate retrieved the letter from underneath the bed and smoothed the creases out. It looked like it had been crumped up many times before.

 

> _Ada!!!!_
> 
> _You will not believe what happened when we arrived in Athens, I’m so excited I don’t think I can write this without messing up the ink—Ed proposed!!! We’re going to get married!!!! Isn’t this the most smashing thing you’ve ever heard?! I know it’s sudden but traveling really brings people together in funny ways, we think we’ll enjoy our engagement out here for a while longer before coming back in the fall to get married straightaway at the Equinox, oh what joy! Do say you’ll be my maid of honor! Just think, Mrs. Edward Spellbody, doesn’t it sound marvelous?_
> 
> _With love from the future Mrs. Spellbody (!!)_

Well, that explained many things, didn’t it? Hecate was incensed on Ada’s behalf, for something that must have happened fifty years ago. It was so disloyal of Mona to change allegiances like that. Hecate didn’t think she would ever trade friendship with Ada for some foolish boy she met on a stupid train from Calais. And it was rather more than friendship for them, wasn’t it? Ada’s heart must have been absolutely _broken_ by this.

Hecate went to put the letter back with its companions, only intending to slide it back into chronological order with the others, when her hand brushed up against a rough piece of scrap paper stuffed into the drawer. She couldn’t stop herself from taking a look at this bit of epistolary evidence too.

 

> _~~Mona my Mona dearest Mona~~ dear Mona_
> 
> _I’m so ~~glad overjoyed~~ so happy for you! ~~Well,~~ I must say I’m surpri_
> 
> _~~Isn’t this splendid?!~~ _
> 
> _Mona_
> 
> _I love you M ~~ona come home~~_
> 
> _~~I lo~~ _

Hecate traced her fingers over the crossing outs and the ink blots, and her heart broke for the Ada of long ago, so young, so undeserving of a heartbreak from her best friend. Suddenly she thought that she would never treat Ada like that, if she went off to marry a man—perish the thought—she wouldn’t announce the news in a letter from half a continent away, she’d at least have the decency to tell her to her face.

She reminded herself that it was absolutely not her business, but the discovery of that last piece of Ada’s relationship to Mona sent her into a furious mood, and she sulked all through their evening meal, despite her favorite of Miss Bat’s records playing in the background and the generous measure of witches’ brew Ada had handed her with a wink. Dimity’s chatter was even more grating than usual and shortly before desert was served she heard herself muttering an excuse and dissolving before her coworkers’ stunned eyes. 

Hecate rematerialized on the beach—damn it, she had forgotten to land farther up on account of the tide—and angrily attempted to dry her boots. She couldn’t remember the last time her magic had reacted so badly to her emotional state and couldn’t manage the spell. She settled for throwing her shoes into the dunes behind her and plopped down on the sand. 

Where on earth was her anger coming from? Really, this was so unlike her. Ada was a _friend_ , and although she hadn’t had many in her life, she knew that you were supposed to care when they got hurt. But not when that hurt had been given in a stupid letter written half a century ago. Ada had probably forgotten all about her teenage romance. Come to think of it, Hecate could barely remember her own forays into that arena.

She hmphed aloud and curled her arms over her knees to stare out at the ocean. The water shimmered in the moonlight, and Hecate had to admit that while the beach was nothing to get excited about in the daytime, at night it really was something. Was that plankton that was glowing out there? Hecate got to thinking about oceanic potions ingredients and whether she could collect anything worth the effort while she was here, saving the need to ask Ada to increase the lab budget again. Between the breeze lazily stirring the plants in the dunes and the waves crashing on the shore, she almost didn’t notice when the woman in her thoughts shimmered into being beside her.

“Hecate?”

The black-haired witch jumped but didn’t turn to face her friend. “I’m fine, Ada,” she muttered.

To Hecate’s surprise, Ada laughed. “I didn’t even ask!” she teased. “Hecate Hardbroom, sharing her emotional state unprompted! Who’d have thought we’d ever see the day?”

Hecate rolled her eyes as Ada sat in the sand beside her. They both contemplated the water for a time before Ada spoke again.

“Seriously, Hecate, are you alright? It’s not like you to blink away like that. Dimity is really worried, but she thinks it might’ve been about something she did this afternoon, so she made me come out here instead.”

Hecate raised an eyebrow at the suggestion that Miss Drill could ever be really worried about anything. “It wasn’t Dimity,” she said. “I just…I don’t know. People are hard.”

“That they are,” Ada agreed, and again she let a silence grow.

Hecate opened her mouth to suggest they go back indoors—she could sense an evening storm rolling in—but to her horror a different question came out.

“Who’s Mona?”

She turned to see Ada facing her in confusion. “I found some letters in a drawer upstairs,” she explained quickly. “I—I didn’t mean to look, they just sort of fell out everywhere.”

Ada nodded. “I’d forgotten I’d left anything here,” she said slowly.

Hecate shrugged. “It’s okay if you’d rather not tell me.” She returned her gaze to the water.

“No, I was just surprised,” Ada said. “Mona was…a very good friend. I guess you saw that she and Ed got engaged right after our last year at school. I thought—well, it doesn’t matter what I thought.”

“You mean you were girlfriends,” Hecate broke in, then stopped, surprised at the way her face was heating up.

“Yes,” Ada said simply. There was a pause. “Anyway, it was all a long time ago. I’m still friends with Mona, in case you’re wondering. Her granddaughter should be coming to Cackle’s in a few years.”

Hecate absorbed this information silently, and Ada studied her face. Hecate wanted to ask her a million questions but she’d already said more than she’d meant to. Instead she focused on keeping her features rigid and sober, telegraphing as hard as she could that she was done with this conversation. She heard Ada sigh, and she silently cursed herself for blocking out her friend.

After a while, Ada reached out to pat Hecate on the shoulder. “I’m going inside,” she said. “Don’t stay out too long. I don’t like the looks of that cloud.”

Hecate’s face warmed again at the feeling of Ada’s hand on her arm. “I’ll cast a protection charm if I have to,” she said. “Thanks, Ada.”

Ada smiled gently and transferred away. Hecate stretched to lie back on the sand and search for the stars behind the clouds. Her musings took her many places, but it wasn’t until the first raindrops began to fall that an explanation of her tumultuous emotions when she read Ada’s love letters occurred to her. She started as a large plop of rain landed directly in her eye, but then she smiled. She wasn’t quite sure yet, but she thought she might have a letter or two to write herself.

 

 


End file.
